This unfortunately has been lost, but an extant one-volume summary of it was made in the mid sixth century, entitled Getica, by Jordanes, a Romanized Goth living in Constantinople.
a sort of Debatable Land
A term borrowed from Scottish Border history. For centuries, a small strip of land straddling the present Dumfriesshire/Cumbria boundary was disputed between the Scots and the English — a situation tailor-made for exploitation by the Border reivers, with their endless capacity for guile and manipulation. In 1552, with tremendous ceremony, the French Ambassador presiding, the matter was finally settled. A trench and bank (still known as the Scots’ Dike) was driven through the middle of what was now no longer the Debatable Land, following the present Border line between the two countries.
Theoderic wearing. . a diadem
The mosaic head and bust, showing Theoderic wearing an impressive diadem, was uncovered during building work in Theoderic’s great church in Ravenna, St Apollinare Nuovo. Thought at first to represent Justinian, it is now generally accepted as portraying Theoderic.
construction of a water-clock and sundial
These, like the selection of a harpist for Clovis, were important and prestigious commissions, indicative of Boethius’ high standing in Theoderic’s court. Cassiodorus demonstrates this when he places them in positions of honour in Variae. Apart from his official work, Boethius — still only in his twenties — was tackling numerous demanding scholarly projects, such as translating from Greek to Latin all the works of Aristotle and the Dialogues of Plato.
based on the one Diocletian had built
Theoderic’s palace has gone, but is represented in mosaic in the church of St Apollinare Nuovo. Diocletian’s palace at Split (Spalato), on which it is thought to have been modelled, is immense, dwarfing the present town, which has grown up partly inside its well-preserved shell.
my noble Roman with a Gothic heart
To some scholars (e.g., Ensslin, Theoderich) it’s an article of faith that no Roman was employed in a military capacity in Theoderic’s army. Ever. However, this was not a rubric carved in stone; the example of Cyprianus adds further proof. We learn from Cassiodorus (in Variae) that Cyprianus’ father Optilio was an ‘old soldier’, and that the entire family was steeped in military tradition — presumably from imperial times. The expression ‘with a Gothic heart’ was formed as a counterpart to Sidonius Apollinaris’ cor Latinum (Epistulae V).
Chapter 28
Sabinianus. . son of a famous general
Sabinianus senior was one of Zeno’s most effective generals. In 479, during one of the interminable on/off series of campaigns waged by the empire against the Ostrogoths, he almost finished Theoderic’s career. Intercepting one of Theoderic’s columns headed by Thiudimund, he captured all the wagons and took a large number of prisoners — an incident which I’ve transposed in the story to the Ostrogoths’ crossing of the Haemus range. In 481, Sabinianus senior (aka Magnus) fell victim to intrigue and was murdered by order of Zeno — an act of senseless folly, no evidence of guilt being produced against the general. That the son’s career (he rose to become Magister Militum per Illyricum) was not adversely affected, suggests tacit acknowledgement on the part of the Eastern establishment that the murder was unjustified.
Mundo, a renegade warlord
This leader of ‘prowlers, robbers, murderers, and brigands’ (Jordanes, Getica) was enlisted by the Goths because they ‘were in desperate need of help’, according to Wolfram (History of the Goths). Moorhead (Theoderic in Italy), on the other hand, states that the Goths responded to an appeal by Mundo for help against Sabinianus. Moorhead also says that Mundo was ‘probably a Gepid’, whereas Wolfram describes him as ‘Hunnic-Gepidic’. Burns, however (A History of the Ostrogoths) has him as ‘a Hun by ancestry’. One pays one’s money and one takes one’s choice. Moorhead implies that Mundo was already a federate of Theoderic before the Sirmian campaign. But as Mundo’s base, Herta, was a hundred miles east of the empire’s western boundary (and therefore surely coming under Eastern suzerainty), I presume to question this. It seems inherently more likely that Mundo became a federate only after the Ostrogoths had occupied the area, perhaps partly to annul his outlaw status in a move aimed at self-protection.
his eyes are upon you
The idea that the Ostrogoths’ natural unruliness could be curbed by the thought that Theoderic was watching them from afar was suggested by some lines in Ennodius’ Panegyricus Dictus Theoderico. Just before the commencement of the battle against the Bulgars, Pitzia reminds the Goths that the eyes of Theoderic are upon them, and tells them to think of Theoderic should the battle ever seem to be going against them, when their fortunes will surely revive. Gibbon reinforces Ennodius: ‘in the fields of Margus the Eastern powers were defeated by the inferior forces of the Goths and Huns. . and such was the temperance with which Theoderic had inspired his victorious troops, that, as their leader had not given the signal for pillage, the rich spoils of the enemy lay untouched at their feet’. The phrase ‘Big Brother is watching you’ springs to mind; in this context however, its significance is entirely benevolent.
slaughtered to a man
Moorhead (Theoderic in Italy) states that ‘In 514 Theoderic. . put to death a man described as Count Petia’, and goes on to say that ‘there were two, and just possibly three, counts with similar names, but it is not at all clear whether the general of 504-5 was put to death in 514’. This uncertainty, plus the fact that the records are silent regarding Pitzia after 504-5 (assuming that he was not ‘Count Petia’), allowed me to have him die fighting in a desperate last stand against the Bulgars.
Chapter 29
the ‘navicularii’
The guild reached its peak under the late empire, during the fourth century, its security and continuity set in concrete, thanks to imperial legislation. We know that trade between Italy and the Eastern Empire, also with southern Gaul and parts of the Mediterranean littoral of Spain, continued (doubtless considerably attenuated) after the fall of the West. I’ve therefore hazarded the assumption that — being so firmly established even towards the West’s last days — the shippers’ guild survived that empire’s demise, a supposition reinforced by the fact that under Odovacar and Theoderic Roman administration and institutions continued largely uninterrupted in Italy.
Chapter 30
‘One of Theoderic’s “new men”’
Of a sequence of five men appointed to the post of City Prefect after 506, not one became consul or was from any of the great families of Rome. From this time, when making key appointments Theoderic turned decisively towards ‘novi homines’, men who were court apparatchiks, not aristocrats. Moorhead (in Theoderic in Italy) says, ‘it is possible that his [Theoderic’s] change of policy was connected with his final decision against Laurentius, who enjoyed widespread senatorial support in 507; perhaps a degree of punishment, and conceivably fear, were [sic] involved’.
to strengthen Rome’s defences
Refurbishment of Rome’s moenia at this time is confirmed by Cassiodorus (in Variae), who also records the burning of crops and the attack on Sipontum by the Eastern naval expedition.
a massive warship-building programme
‘Their [the Eastern expedition’s] retreat was possibly hastened by the activity of Theoderic; Italy was covered by a fleet of a thousand light vessels, which he constructed with incredible despatch’ (Gibbon).
The shipyards of. . Tergeste
Dalmatia, which then included Trieste (Tergeste), was annexed by Odovacar to his kingdom of Italy, following the death of Nepos.
friendly overtures from Theoderic
A diplomatic mission to the Burgundians had been accompanied by prestigious gifts: a sundial and a water-
